#705 > Avey Grouws Band + KAT Blue & the True Believers - Live Sep. 21, 2024 (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 

Avey Grouws Band + KAT Blue & the True Believers – Sep 21, 2024
Olympic South Side Theater
Cedar Rapids, Iowa

By Phillip Smith; Sep. 22, 2024

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

It was great to see Avey Grouws Band return to Cedar Rapids to play the Olympic South Side Theater. With KAT Blue & the True Believers opening up, it made for quite a night of music. It was much needed. KAT Blue took the stage and played a cool set-list full of blues, including The Shangri-Las' "Walking in the Sand", Etta James' "Blues is my Business", Muddy Waters' "Got My Mojo Working", Beth Hart's "Bad Woman Blues", and Johnny Lang's "Lie to Me". Avey Grouws played a lot of my favorite originals like "Hanging Around", "You Need Love", and "Hard Times", "Two Days Off (and a Little Bit of Liquor)", "I Dig What You Do" and "Love Reigning Down". Before the evening ended, Avey Grouws Band brought KAT Blue up on stage for a grand finale of "Sweet Home Chicago". It was a great night indeed. 

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·       All Photos by Phillip Smith

KAT Blue & the True Believers

Avey Grouws Band

* Photos by Phillip Smith

#704 : J.D. Simo & Luther Dickinson - Do the Rump (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 

2024 – Forty Below Records

Release Date : Sep. 20, 2024

By Phillip Smith; Sep. 21, 2024

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

 

I was very excited when I first heard Luther Dickinson and J.D. Simo were going to collaborate on an album together. I have been an avid follower of Luther’s for quite a while, and became a fan of J.D.’s after catching a live performance of him opening up for Tab Benoit last year. The two forces first played together while touring with Phil Lesh and Friends. They discovered they both had a lot of the same influences and musical alignments. Although their approaches to playing guitar is vastly different, they found their styles complemented each other very much so. Simo and Dickinson joined forces, bringing drummer Adam Abrashoff onboard to complete the band and recorded Do the Rump at Simo’s home studio in Nashville.  The album has a strong hill-country blues presence. It collides the familiar with the unfamiliar and slow-simmers the results in a swampy goodness.

They pour a beautifully haunting groove into JJ Cale’s “Right Down There” from his 1972 album Really. With Abrashoff’s notorious beat laying the tracks, a lush dose of greasy slide guitar and heavy fuzz-laden guitar breathes a new glorious life into the song. “Lonesome Road” is downright amazing. It conjures images in my head of Hendrix and SRV playing together in a smoky, whiskey-soaked juke joint in the middle of Mississippi. I dig the John Lee Hooker cover of “Serve Me Right to Suffer”. Served in a bowlful of hypnotic North Mississippi hill country blues, it truly becomes an entirely different song. I find it fascinating to hear the results of mashing Junior Kimbrough’s “Do the Rump” and Fred McDowell’s “Louise” together and backed with a Fela Kuti-inspired afro-beat. “Do the Rump Louise”, a nearly eight-minute-long performance is quickly absorbed into my inner being. I love every bit of it. The album ends with an extraordinary extended ten-minute jam taking on R.L. Burnside’s “Peaches” for another healthy dose of music for the soul.

Do the Rump is everything I hoped this album would be and more. I truly hope to hear more musical collaborations between Simo and Dickinson.

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For more information about J.D. Simo, visit his website at simo.fm

 

For more information about Luther Dickinson, visit his website at lutherdickinson.com

 

For more information about Forty Below Records, visit their website at fortybelowrecords.com

 

#703 : Ping Rose - Conjure Man (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 

2024 – New Sun Music

By Phillip Smith; Sep. 14, 2024

 

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

 

Conjure Man, the second release from Memphis-based singer/guitarist Ping Rose is definitely suited to be his break-out album. There’s a certain freshness to his style which I enjoy immensely as he seemingly draws influence from favorite artists like Jimi Hendrix, Albert King, Robert Plant, and Stevie Wonder.

I love way he approaches the slide guitar on the opening song “Cloverhill Stomp”. This rootsy country-blues instrumental is an absolutely fabulous listen. This rolls right in a real-deal blues track “Don’t Drink Me Dry”. Fearless vocals and his amazing guitar mastery make this track a hands-down favorite. Title-track “Conjure Man” beautifully shines a light on his soulful side. His soft guitar approach pairs sweetly with the Stevie Wonder-esque tone in his vocals. When “Salty” hits, I feel the Led Zeppelin presence within every note. Ping immaculately captures that Plant-style rasp in his voice with that slow-dripping blues we loved to hear Page dish out. It’s simply amazing. The smooth sounds of the George-Benson-friendly “Careful What You Wish For” pops nicely with the splash of funk.

Conjure Man is such a wonderful album, I’m certain the world will be hearing a lot more from Ping Rose in the near future.

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For more information about Ping Rose, visit his website at https://www.pingroseplays.com/

 

Find Ping Rose on Spotify too!

 

#702 : Brad Fielder - Demons + Rationals (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 

2024 – Shive Records

Release Date : June 4, 2024

By Phillip Smith; Sep, 7, 2024

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

 

A nostalgic wave washes over me with every listen to Demons + Rationals, the latest release from Oklahoma song-writer/performer Brad Fielder. He is a master at tapping into the that pre-war music vein and breathing new life into that style with new, original songs. His music blend blues, ragtime, folk, and country, and is performed acoustically, often using a resonator guitar. According to Fielder, the music on this record draws its influence at the ‘intersection between Saturday night and Sunday morning” catering to both hooligans and bible-thumpers. With Fielder on guitars, vocals, and harmonica, he is backed by Charley Reeves on sousaphone and bass fiddle, Brandon Brunious on six string banjo and electric guitar, Megan Harris Brunious (Hank III, Peaches) on vocals, accordion, percussion, and trumpet, Jesse Armerding on drums and percussion, and Juel Niimi on trombone.

Fielder quickly draws my attention with “Little Lake Turnaround”. His masterful lyrics have a fascinating Charles Bukowski appeal and a Jimbo Mathus sense of presentation. Following up next is “Outreach Bibles” in which Fielder tells the story of a depression-era bible salesman. I couldn’t help but think about the 1973 film Paper Moon. Megan Harris Brunious steps in for a wonderful duet on “Daddy’s Water” a song which reminds us that our hidden secrets are often revealed once we encounter death. She also heads-up lead vocals on the beautiful folk-spiritual “Catch That Spirit and Fly”. Fielder places the trifecta of consumption at the front of the line in “Eatin Drinkin Smokin”. This song has a way of rattling around in my head long after hearing it, and I don’t mind a bit.

Demons + Rationals is an amazing listen from start to finish. I highly recommend giving this album from Brad Fielder a listen.

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For more information about Brad Fielder, visit his website at https://www.bradfielder.net/

 

Available on Bandcamp

#701 > Bowlful of Blues Festival - 2024 (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 

Bowlful of Blues Festival – Sep 1, 2024
Fred Maytag Bowl
Newton, Iowa

By Phillip Smith; Sep. 2, 2024

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

Soaking up the blues in Newton, Iowa at the Bowlful of Blues Festival on Labor Day Weekend is one of my favorite things to do. Presented by The South Skunk Blues Society, this event is like a summer family reunion for Iowa blues fans. A crisp blue sky and temperatures hovering in the seventies made for perfect weather at Maytag Park this year.

The music kicked off this year with Newton’s own The Sears Band fronted by Jim Sears on guitar and vocals. Their high-energy set the pace for the rest of the day. Next up was Des Moines-based bluesman and 2005 Iowa Blues Hall of Fame inductee Steve E. George. I don’t know how I’ve missed this entertainer over the years, but I am very happy to have caught him in this stellar performance. Between sets, Clayton Ryan provided a mix of original songs and covers. This balladeer has a hell of a knack for writing songs. Brandon Santini took the stage and delivered a searing ninety-minute set of harmonica-fueled blues. I’ve been wanting to see him play live for a long time. Headlining the fest was Iowa’s Avey Grouws Band. I’m used to seeing the band as a quartet. This show was special in that they added Leo Albertoni on keys, Heath Alan on saxophone, and Jeni Grouws’ daughter Lillian Grouws on backing vocals. They rocked the park for two hours, with their final two songs being joined by Santini. I loved every bit of it.

Special thanks go out to The South Skunk Blues Society and all the volunteers who makes this wonderful event happen every year. 

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·       All Photos by Phillip Smith

The Sears Band

Steve E. George

Clayton Ryan

Brandon Santini

Avey Grouws Band

* All photos by Phillip Smith